As a person who could live on a mediterranean and mexican diet, I recently had to check out Kapnos in Washington, DC.  It is one of Mike Isabella‘s (from Top Chef) many restaurants.  It’s in the U St. corridor, just a few blocks from the U St./Cardozo Metro on the Green Line/Yellow Lines.

The restaurant is said to have small plates so you can have a few per person.  That’s a good thing to know because there were too many mouth-watering options on the menu!  Several of us were there so there was good sharing opportunity.  We were able to cover the menu quite well.

Started with the pikilia, aka a sampling of three spread and got revithosalata (chickpea, tahini, sultan chutney), melitzanosalata (smoked eggplant, roasted peppers, walnuts, feta) & favosalata (yellow lentils, scallions, black garlic, pine nuts).

After much debate, the rest of the food that hit the table was:

roasted duck phyllo pie  cress, cherries, pistachio yogurt

roasted cauliflower baharat spice, pistachio, golden raisin

charred brussels sprouts  sweet potato, coriander honey, candied pecans

fava yellow lentils, spinach, butternut squash, saffron, pearl onions

american red snapper sunchoke, celery root, saffron broth

marinated lamb bulgur, cous cous, wild rice (didn’t get a picture of this one)

spit roasted chicken  lemon potatoes

Some of these ‘small’ plates were huge.  There were five of us at the table and there was more than enough.  We weren’t going to let any of this go to waste so made room…  Everything was mouthwatering and beyond delicious.  Since there were so many options on the menu totally worth going back to explore other options.  Isabella also has other places in DC and there is a Kapnos opening in Bethesda in early 2016 which will be a good one to check out.